PARIS — American football fans brought high energy, chants and smiles to Stade de France on Sunday to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers face the New Orleans Saints. Some said the mass protests in the city were not an issue during their weekend trip. The NFL’s first regular-season game in France came a day after more than 400,000 people around the country took to the streets to protest educational funding and the high cost of living.
At least 110,000 of those protesters were concentrated in Paris, according to the French Interior Ministry. Although the demonstrations were largely peaceful, some clashes broke out, prompting French security forces to use tear gas and water cannons in several cities. Paris prosecutors said there were 64 arrests in the nation’s capital on Saturday, mostly for suspected weapons offenses or participation in a group preparing violence or property damage.
But American visitors in town to cheer on their teams told NBC News that everyone they’ve encountered had been welcoming. Lifelong friends and Saints fans Sindhu Pandit, Shruti Menon and Pramod Menon said they never felt the game would be canceled. Pandit said the key to their own movements around the city was to stay informed.
The friends said they came to support both the country and their team, a sentiment his wife shared. Paris has really tried to work hard to, you know, make people feel safe and comfortable, and then enjoy the experience.” The Washington, D.C.-based couple, who have visited Paris several times, spent Saturday walking around the city. Saroja Warner said it was a bit sad to see some businesses with boarded-up windows, but any clashes seemed “localized.” “We walked around Paris all day till about 6 o’clock at night ... and we didn’t see any unrest, any crazy stuff,” she said.
The game is the latest in a series of international games the NFL has scheduled in recent seasons to grow the sport outside of its domestic audience. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters Wednesday that he was not concerned about the Paris protests ahead of the game and was comfortable with the security preparations the league had made in coordination with French authorities. Figures from the Interior Ministry indicate Saturday’s demonstrations produced significantly fewer problems than those the week before.
There were about 1,300 arrests nationwide, roughly half the previous week’s total. Only 53 members of the security forces reported injuries, compared with 1,144 the week before, according to the ministry. The unrest began weeks ago, when students at a high school in Créteil, a suburb of Paris, began protesting a lack of resources and poor conditions at their school.
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